Love is Always Write Anthology Volume 9 by Various Authors

him.
    "Don't make me come in there after you, Alec." Powers, don't make me come in there, he thought. The magic didn't like this place.
    "I'm not coming out, Kreed."
    Alec turned away, the levity gone from his face. "You don't want to come in, that's fine, but you know what? It's peaceful. Not magic, not mating instinct. Just me and I know what I want."
    Kreed shivered. "What's that?" he asked, voice clawing for purchase in his parched throat.
    "Come in and find out."
    And what would the null magic do to his dragon?
    "Scared?" Alec asked. The question was just a whisper on the breeze.
    Kreed nodded as he prepared to move forward.
    Alec reveled in the clarity. He did know what he wanted. Really, he'd always known. But Kreed was more dragon than he was, obviously, and it wasn't worth their friendship to push the issue.
    Above them, the dragons careened away, Ruby winging towards Waveside and Robert wheeling after her with a screech of frustration.
    "That's that, then," Alec muttered. Decision made for him. And not that he was really surprised. Robert was the dragon prince. Any interest he had in Alec was purely hormonal and overridden at the scent of a ready female. He shuffled his feet around to face Kreed.
    And saw that his friend had entered the clearing. The sight made Alec instantly speechless.
    Before him was a huge silvery-blue creature of absolute beauty.
    "Kreed?"
    The dragon snorted, shimmered and a cascade of silver dust rained down over the earth.
    Kreed stumbled forward a step and Alec only just managed to catch him one handed.
    "Wow," Kreed said, his voice hoarse. "That's what it feels like?" He lifted his head and Alec saw a world of wonder in his eyes.
    "That was a lot of dragon," Alec said, pushing a hank of blue-black hair off Kreed's sweaty cheek and ruthlessly stifling the jealousy. He had no idea what a shift felt like.
    Kreed grunted.
    "Really." Alec brushed a bit of silver dust off Kreed's shoulder. "Kreed, you're beautiful. Why don't you change more often?"
    "I—" Kreed shivered again. "Didn't know I could."
    "But you did. Inside the null field."
    "Yeah. I guess." He lifted his head again, to look into Alec's eyes. "Couldn't hold it, though."
    "So?" Alex shook him a bit. "So? You did do it!"
    "And now I'm just—" He shifted his shoulders, making his wings rustle in the light breeze.
    "Just what?"
    Above them, dragon song was slowly resuming as the dragons gathered to watch the spectacle of a mating fight withdrew back to their own dances and rituals.
    Kreed shrugged. "Me."
    "So?" Alec frowned. "What's wrong with you?"
    A shocked look came over Kreed's face. "You're kidding, right? Look at me!" his wings unfurled and he lifted them, blocking out shafts of golden sun slipping through the trees. He turned and Alec had to duck to avoid getting knocked over by the appendages. "Scales, Alec? Really?"
    "I always thought they were a pretty color." Alec found the top of the shirt Kreed had on, one specially cut and fastened at the side to accommodate his wings, and ran a hand along Kreed's spine, following the undulating pattern of color up until his hand disappeared beneath Kreed's hair. The scales were cool and strangely more tactile than they looked. Alec had expected them to be hard, cold, like metal, but they felt more like shell, or bone. Not quite smooth, more like living tissue under his fingertips.
    "Alec…." A shudder followed Alec's hand up and Kreed groaned. "Don't do that." His eyes drifted closed as Alec's hand stilled at the back of his head, nestled in his hair.
    "Why not?"
    "Sensitive," Kreed muttered.
    "Did I hurt you?" Alec stepped closer. "Kreed?"
    Kreed shook his head, eyes still closed, head tilting back slightly into the cup of Alec's hand. "Not that kind of sensitive."
    "Then what—oh!" His fingers twitched, but he stopped himself pulling away just in time.
    Instead, he ducked under Kreed's wing and took a stand behind him. Letting his fingers trail over the scales again, he found the